Long before the first digital banner ad appeared on a website, there was contextual targeting. The strategy to place ads next to relevant content has been used by print and broadcast media for decades, so when the Internet became mainstream in the late 1990s, advertisers applied the same strategy to these “new media” channels. Since then, the rise of Big Data, the mobile internet, and more sophisticated behavioral targeting technology pushed contextual targeting into the background. Until now.

The long, 20-year reign of behavioral targeting is ending and contextual targeting is making a comeback. In this guide, we’ll demystify contextual targeting by providing answers to the following questions:

• What is contextual targeting?
• Why is contextual targeting regaining popularity?
• What are the benefits of contextual targeting?
• What is the technology behind today’s contextual targeting?